Funded PhDs at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin /Freie Universität Berlin

The Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (https://www.berliner-antike-kolleg.org/en/bergsas/index.html) is offering two doctoral scholarships (Oct. 2023-Sept.2027) funded by the Graduate School Scholarship Program (GSSP) of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to earn a PhD in Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin / Freie Universität Berlin) in the program “Ancient Philosophy and History of Ancient Science”.

We welcome applications from highly qualified graduates from the fields of:

  • Ancient Philosophy
  • Classics
  • History of Ancient Science
  • Ancient Near Eastern Studies
  • Arabic Philosophy and Science
  • Jewish Philosophy and Aesthetics

Candidates must hold an outstanding Master's degree (MA, MSt, or MSc) or equivalent in one of the aforementioned disciplines. Candidates are be expected to have sufficient command of the relevant ancient languages for their dissertation project. Since the language of instruction is predominantly English, your active language skills should be good enough to participate in discussions and to be able to write academic texts and papers. 

Doctoral students are expected to participate in Digital Humanities training offered as part of BerGSAS.

Who can apply?

  • The call is open ONLY to applicants who are not German citizens,
  • applicants must not have been resident in Germany for more than the last 12 months as of the application deadline of March 15, 2023,
  • the MA degree must not have been obtained before May 15, 2017,
  • applicants must not have completed a PhD previously.

Funding: The scholarships are available from October 2023 (Winter semester 2023/24) for four years, subject to a satisfactory annual progress review. In accordance with DAAD guidelines, doctoral scholarship holders receive a stipend of 1,200 Euros a month, a travel allowance, a combined health, accident and liability insurance policy, allowances for study and research (rent and family allowances, where applicable); financial support for a pre-sessional German language course. Plus, material resources and supervision allowance of 1,000 Euros per year, which is paid to the BerGSAS.

Objectives of the program “Ancient Philosophy and History of Ancient Science”: The doctoral program APhil/HistAS is dedicated to ancient philosophy and the special sciences that developed in the ancient Mediterranean and ancient Near East, their interrelationship, their historical context as well as their later impact in the Arabic speaking world and the modern era. The main sources are scientific and philosophical texts, but also scientific instruments and other forms of material evidence. The program is divided into two curricular paths, which are selected before the beginning of the doctoral program: 

For the Ancient Philosophy path, we particularly welcome dissertation proposals, which are concerned with ancient philosophy in the stricter sense and with the more general, intellectual and theoretical aspects of the ancient sciences (including mathematics, medicine, and other disciplines that we might not today consider special sciences, such as grammar or divination).

For the History of Ancient Science path, we welcome (but not exclusively) dissertation proposals that consider philological, historical, social and cultural aspects of the ancient scientific theories and practices in their social and cultural contexts, in the Graeco-Roman world as well as in the ancient Near Eastern, Early Christian and Islamic worlds.

Application deadline : March 15, 2023 at 00:00 CET.

Detailed information on the scholarships, the application requirements and the application documents to be submitted is available: https://www.berliner-antike-kolleg.org/en/bergsas/ausschreibungen/index.html


For inquiries please contact: Carmen Marcks-Jacobs.